The Department of Pharmacology has established a special research unit to undertake both basic scientific investigations and clinical studies to evaluate the importance of individual differences (particularly those due to genetic factors) which are responsble for variations in the response to drugs and the disposition and metabolism of drugs. General objectives of these studies will be: to determine the relative importance of genetic versus environmental factors in accounting for a variety of known instances where marked variations in drug metabolism or drug response in man exists; to establish the biochemical, pharmacological and genetic bases for these differences; to establish methods for detecting inherited traits which predispose particular individuals to unusual drug susceptibilities or sensitivities; and to determine whether these hereditary differences are more significant or more pronounced at certain stages during development (immature infants, the newborn, adults, and elderly people).